


deafening

by myflower



Category: HOTSHOT (Band), JBJ (Band), Topp Dogg (Band)
Genre: Angst, Implied Sexual Content, M/M, Science Fiction, Time - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-03-13
Updated: 2018-04-18
Packaged: 2019-03-30 19:15:26
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 6,293
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13958211
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/myflower/pseuds/myflower
Summary: this was the world now; you could lead your most perfect life simply by entering a simulation.it has a fewkinkshere and there, but it’s safe.absolutely.





	1. frozen

**Author's Note:**

> OOF SO THIS. this is going to be a piece of work but i am So excited.  
> this came about after i dreamt about a concept similar to this? it wasn’t exactly the storyline described in this, but it was definitely so interesting i felt the need to write a whole fuckin’ story out of it.  
> i wanna make this a novel. like 40k to 50k words by the end. it’ll be good. i’m so excited to put my best work forward.  
> thank you to moose for beta-ing this first chapter i love u @takadatv
> 
> enjoy!
> 
> [note; the title used to be 'somebody', but i changed it to 'deafening', as it'll fit the concept of the story more.]

When you’re born, before you even walk, you are taught how to Simulate.

It’s a basic concept that every human has to learn how to do because it is essential to life.

Simulations are carried out on a daily basis by everyone on planet earth. The concept behind Simulations can be simplified as this:

Before you’re about to make a decision, whether it be where you’re going to eat, who you’re going to contact, what phrasing you should go about to talk to your boss, you are allowed to Simulate.

Simulations work to let humans decide what route they want to take in carrying out a certain task. Its purpose is to ultimately allow everyone to lead perfect lives. This is why it’s essential that every human learn to do it before they walk and talk.

When humans enter a Simulation, time simultaneously pauses. They are then to carry out the main two decisions to see the outcomes and decide what they would like to do in reality. Most Simulations, if not concluded earlier, end right before you are to make your next decision that would require a Simulation. They then take you directly back to where you were before you made your choice, resuming time immediately. Those around wouldn’t even have known you’d went through a Simulation. It’s a fairly easy concept, and is easy to carry out if you learn it from birth, as you’re supposed to.

Unfortunately, its introduction to the human race was recent; Kenta was 14 when it was introduced. The technology behind it was so advanced, he couldn’t believe that it was reality. He’d already made so many mistakes in his life, he wished that this technology had existed sooner. _At least,_ he guessed, _it exists now._

Life had been pretty alright for Kenta, though, after learning how to Simulate. Obviously, since he wasn’t born into the technology, he had to learn how to successfully complete a Simulation. There were classes hosted by United Nations’ officials who were trained skillfully in every aspect of it. No human knew physical Simulations were possible until a skilled scientist from the West discovered it, however many years ago, after evaluating the psyche of a young child for another of his experiments. He soon found that every human could do it if they followed the same methods the child did. That child was Kenta’s age, which was quite weird for him to think about, if he was being honest.

Going through with Simulations are always optional, and no one is required to use them. But all children of the new generations are required to learn how to Simulate from birth. The scientist who discovered it called it innovative, saying that it would truly change the way humans would live forever.

Though Simulations advertised otherwise, Kenta still wouldn’t say his life was now perfect—it was definitely alright, though. He realized through the now countless Simulations in his life that some of his preferred decisions would have had much worse repercussions, so he felt thankful that this system was implemented by the officials, who were so kindly renowned as the leaders of this time frame of human evolution. They were truly the most important people to the daily lives of billions now.

His section leader, the U.N. Official of Japan and the Koreas, was named Roh Taehyun. He was incredibly kind and, while secretive, talkative toward his students. Kenta found a way to befriend him when he was being trained to Simulate, and they’ve been in contact since. He felt it was nice to have someone with an inside and outside point of view of everything that was happening in this innovative timeline. He was who Kenta would call his best friend, but for security and reasons beyond his control, he hesitated from doing that anytime in public. (The only people who knew about their friendship besides the two were Kenta’s friends, Sanggyun and Donghan, and Taehyun’s half-brother, Taedong, as well as Taedong’s best friend, Hyunbin.)

Taehyun had said he liked the Simulations system plenty of times, but he also told Kenta of some of the side effects that could come with using it, especially for those who had learned it long after their birth. He really didn’t believe it when Taehyun said that people had gotten themselves stuck in time after their choices played out in the Simulation. It seemed too big a flaw to exist for the United Nations, let alone almost the entire world, to allow full implementation of the system.

At least, he thought that way until he experienced it himself.

Kenta had gone out with his friends, Sanggyun and Donghan, to this restaurant they’d been bothering him consistently to go to. The both of his friends weren’t avid users of Simulations like Kenta, but they understood why he liked to do it after the one time his Simulation prevented Sanggyun from encountering a deathly situation just outside of his record label’s building. It was a convenience, as well as a safety precaution.

At this point, Kenta had eaten with his friends, talked a lot, and drank a bit, and now had to choose whether or not he’d go home with Donghan and Sanggyun, or if he’d call a cab for himself. He asked his friends first, who both offered to take him back to their shared apartment, before he made himself enter the Simulation.

Kenta found it a little weird that this Simulation was blurred, but it was even weirder that instead of his usual visual aspects he’d see in his Simulations (which were realistic; it varied based on the person, some people’s Simulations were similar to video game characters, others were realistic to themselves in real life, like Kenta’s). His Simulation this time was robotic, almost. As if the outcomes weren’t actually what would happen. As it played through option one, Kenta going home with Sanggyun and Donghan, he realized how little he actually wanted to go through with that outcome. To say the least, he loves his friends, but with the three of them at least dranken some amount of alcohol, it was both unsafe and a bit inappropriate what would happen. Not that he was against it…

Kenta felt his cheeks heat up a bit.

The second option began playing through, where he’d call a cab to be taken home. This was the ideal scenario. His driver would be nice (though a bit glitchy, which really made no sense...why did it seem like he was buffering?), and not screw with him at all. He’d get home, as he needed to.

As soon as the Simulation ended, though, he was expecting to have automatically exited it. He was shocked to find that he was still sitting in the back of the cab five seconds later, everything around him completely frozen and silent. The radio had stopped, as well as the driver’s calm chatter. And, for some reason, everything was no longer robotic like it was previously, but it had returned to a realistic Simulation like Kenta was used to.

He looked around, puzzled, wondering why he hadn’t returned back to the restaurant with his friends. This wasn’t right. He wasn’t supposed to still be here.

He tapped the driver on the shoulder, who didn’t turn around, or even move. Kenta felt his neck for a pulse, and panicked as he found his blood had stopped pumping.

He then remembered what Taehyun had said.

 _“Some people, if they weren’t taught how to Simulate at birth, may get stuck in their Simulations.”_ _  
_

Kenta awkwardly laughed a bit, remembering his response of, _“You’re kidding me. I can’t believe that.”_

It left a bitter taste in his mouth.

He quickly exited the back of the cab, licking his lips nervously, thankful that he found himself right at his apartment building’s entrance. He went to the stairs after attempting the elevator, which wasn’t working. His apartment was a couple levels up, so it didn’t take too long before he was scrambling for his keys to allow himself to enter his living room.

Kenta took off his jacket and hung it up on the hook below the peephole on his front door, then locked the door and turning to stride toward his couch.

Before anything else, he sat himself down and he attempted, as much as he could, to consciously return to reality, to leave his Simulation, to find himself back at the restaurant feeling slightly tipsy with Sanggyun and Donghan at his side, to no avail. He squeezed his eyes shut, frustrated and a bit angry, before he suddenly felt his stomach rumble. He opened his eyes a little, and they darted from the saucer from that morning’s cup of coffee to the television remote control. He reached for the remote, turning on the television with surprising success.

What was unsurprising, though, was that live television was completely frozen. He clicked through his recordings and found that those played perfectly. _Thank god,_ Kenta thought, _I can have some noise around here._

He got up and grabbed a water bottle from his fridge and a packet of ramen from his pantry, and he began to prepare his food. He put some of his water in the pot, as well as the ramen block, and groaned frustratedly when—of course—his stove wouldn’t turn on. It wouldn’t even release any gas to attempt turning it on.

He kicked the broiler of his range oven in anger before turning to grab his water bottle, downing it all within a second. This was so fucking frustrating, why did he have to be frozen in time? Why? At this point, all he wanted was to _eat_.

After he came to terms that he was probably not going to be eating for, at least, tonight, he decided to turn off the music program he’d had playing in the background in favor of entering his bedroom and collapsing on his bed with a brand new water bottle and his headache pills on his nightstand.

A good thing, Kenta found, was that when he woke up, the world was once again light. At least days still passed. He’d been so worried that this wouldn’t happen. He probably would’ve cried to himself about it if time of day didn’t pass at all. He couldn’t live in the night forever! He needed daylight! It was one of the only things he thrived off of recently!

Well. That, and human interaction, which was literally impossible right now. He needed at least one of the two, honestly.

His stomach was still rumbling, hungry beyond compare, so he decided that he should go somewhere to try and get something to eat. Since everything was frozen, he figured his best option was to go to a local convenience store and grab a few snacks.

The walk was incredibly lonely. At first, he attempted to call Sanggyun, to see if he was really just living in some kind of incredibly planned prank that Sanggyun put together to get him to stop using Simulations. Yes, Sanggyun knew that many people. Yes, that many people liked him enough to help with something as notorious as this.

No...there’s no way that many people would agree to do something like this, especially since so many of them also relied on Simulations to live their lives, just like Kenta did.

The call didn’t even connect to a tower. It hung up immediately, ringing an annoyingly common _“Your call could not be forwarded. Please try again later”._ Kenta rolled his eyes.

Even though it didn’t allow calls (or texts, Kenta quickly found,) to go through, or even connect to the internet, Kenta felt so thankful that his phone worked just enough that he could play some music as he navigated between all of the frozen lives cluttering the sidewalks.

It was so weird to be outdoors without any noise whatsoever. The music he played (specifically _Teen Top_ , his favorite group, which was _really_ what Kenta needed at this time,) amplified every time he passed an alleyway or road, crossing multiple streets to reach the nearest convenience store. Otherwise, it was completely silent. He felt like he wasn’t alive, almost as if this was a division of hell. There wasn’t even the slightest bit of wind, at all. Just a slightly cold tinge to the air, as it was mid-March.

When he approached the convenience store, he entered easily, because the doors are nearly never locked, and he made his way through the aisles, immediately looking for any snacks.

The convenience store was empty of any stopped bodies, not even a worker at the front. Kenta felt that it would be of good use for him to grab anything he could that didn’t require a microwave or stove, because while he can interact with some things, he clearly learned that not everything worked while time was frozen.

The clock did not tick once, even though the sun had fallen and rose that day.

The only thing that helped Kenta know the time of day was the clock on his phone, which was stupidly enough the only thing besides the sun and moon that would allow him to know the time and day it was. _March 13th. 9:28 a.m._

He rolled his eyes, a bit annoyed that that was the only thing going for him right then.

He cracked open a box of Pocky, reached for a bottle of iced coffee, and grabbed a couple of cheese sticks before seating himself against the Frozens door on the floor. He got halfway through his bottle of coffee and downed one of the cheese sticks before he heard something fall in the back room of the convenience store.

Kenta jumped up, shocked, and his heartbeat immediately picked up its pace. His calm breathing just a second before turned panicked as he made his way down the aisle to turn the corner and peek into the slightly opened door.

A moment later, he heard a soft purr and watched as a black and white cat exited the door calmly, tilting its head at Kenta before redirecting its attention at the colorful cat toys on display just down the aisle and taking off to pummel them into the tiled floor.

Kenta suddenly felt a little less alone. He peeked out the window next to him, only to see that all the cars at the corner were still frozen, someone on their phone stuck in the middle of their conversation indefinitely. Kenta was now curious. Why was this cat defying the Simulation? His Simulation?

He walked toward the cat carefully, who was now playing with a lime green colored fish toy, and squatted next to it. The cat didn’t care, instead continuing to play with its toy, and Kenta slowly reached out to pet its head.

The cat didn’t react negatively, but it did hesitate, pulling itself away from Kenta’s reach for a moment before looking at him directly in his eyes and then allowing him to pet it. He scratched its head carefully, then behind its ear, and he smiled to himself a bit.

 _Cute cat,_ he thought, the black and white cat still gnawing on its toy. A moment later, another noise in the form of a voice echoed out of the back room. The cat jumped from Kenta’s grasp and Kenta jumped a little bit too, shocked at both the noise and the action of the cat, and it rushed toward the door to enter it. The voice became more clear, calling what Kenta assumed to be the cat’s name, “Torby!”

A moment later, Kenta stood up, watching a figure make its way out of the back room. He smoothed down his jacket and pants nervously, in the process attempting to wipe off any sweat on his palms. He stared at the man standing before him, who was now carrying the cat from before as well as a smaller grey kitten. The man stared back, furrowing his eyebrows in curiosity and confusion.

“What?” The unnamed man whispered, and Kenta tilted his head a bit.

“Uh...you have a cute cat. Cute cats,” Kenta said, pointing between the two kittens the man was holding. The man only stared at him more.

“How are you mobile right now?”

“I...I got stuck in my Simulation.” Kenta said quickly.

The man didn’t answer. He only nodded, and continued to go behind the counter and put the cats down. Kenta watched intently, unsure of what to do. He felt so thankful he wasn’t alone, but he was really concerned about how he even encountered this guy in the first place. How in the hell he was currently living was this guy defying his Simulation? _This makes no sense!_ Kenta thought.

He shuffled himself nervously toward the counter. The man pulled a chair out from behind it and pointedly let Kenta join him. Kenta sat down awkwardly and stared at his hands.

“My name is Longguo,” the man finally said after a few minutes’ silence, “I was the first to freeze.”


	2. don't go in

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> as if it couldn't get weirder.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> LISTEN I'M GONNA SHOOT FOR A CHAPTER A MONTH  
> i'm depressed as fuck bc of jbj's [redacted] single lol  
> but  
> i finished this chapter  
> btw. i literally Just finished it. i'm posting it now and i'll edit later.  
> pls leave comments it was so hard for me to write without feeling motivated so PLS THOSE HELP ME SO MUCH!!!  
> also don't forget to [stream call your name](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ks6I2rtI4ms) thanks!

“Wait... _the first to freeze_?” Kenta asked, and Longguo nodded a bit, not making eye contact with him. He only watched as his cats played in front of them.

“I wasn’t born into the system. I think that’s pretty clear since you seem about my age.” Longguo started, and Kenta watched him, instantly curious. “But I was one of the first to be introduced to the system years after birth. I was twelve years old when I was taught how to Simulate. That was ten years ago now. I’m sure you know Simulations weren’t fully introduced to the public until eight years ago.”

Kenta nodded.

“I was in the first class of kids to be taught how to do it. They took four kids from each continent between the ages eight and fourteen, and I was one of them, somehow. We all traveled to the United States with our families and went through multiple courses to learn how to Simulate. All of us were successful within our first few tries, which the scientists found completely miraculous.”

“I think I’ve read about you before,” Kenta interjected. “There was an article about these experiments happening way back then. I don’t remember specifics but I remember reading that scientists were amazed by the progress of the kids they were experimenting on.”

Longguo laughed a bit to himself, stretching his palms on his knees and looking down at his cats play-fighting on the floor. A small smile stayed on his lips as he continued, “It quickly became dangerous, though. My fifth time Simulating, I froze. Everything just stopped in its tracks. No one knew that I had frozen, though. You know that no one can sense this since Simulations happen when time is stopped.”

“Why do you say that it was dangerous?” Now it was Kenta’s turn to laugh, even if it was nervously. “My friend told me about the fact that people have frozen before.”

Longguo turned his head curiously. “How? Only those who have frozen and U.N. officials know about the freezing.”

“Oh…” Kenta started, “My friend is a U.N. official. Roh Taehyun. Leader of this section.”

They made eye contact, and Longguo looked away carefully, only nodding. He didn’t say anything.

“He’s a good guy,” Kenta continued, “he doesn’t Simulate a lot. But he’s done it many times and he advocates for the system.”

“I know. I’ve met him,” Longguo said, “last year.”

Kenta tilted his head, breathing a small, “Really?” before something else crossed his mind. “You can unfreeze?”

“Of course,” Longguo said, “as the first to freeze, I was also the first to unfreeze. I figured it out on my own. I can now control my freezing with ease.”

Kenta suddenly felt a bit fearful, like he was in the presence of a marvelous fictional creature. “Why did you ask me how I was mobile, then, if you can control it?”

“I can control it for myself. I’ve never had anyone who wasn’t my cats or a classmate cross into my frozen timeline. This is new.” Longguo just said plainly, staring Kenta in the eyes. Kenta stared back, almost telepathically pressing for an answer to his previous question. _Why was it dangerous?_

Longguo looked like he could sense the tension, but he only kept looking at his cats as the words, “Real time can continue,” escaped his lips.

Kenta squinted at him. “You just said that it always stops.”

“I didn’t say always,” He said quietly. “There’s something you have to understand… wait… what’s your name?” Longguo laughed a bit, and Kenta introduced himself quickly and apologized for not doing it sooner. “Kenta… this may be a bit difficult to explain.”

“Shoot. I’ll try my best to follow.”

“Okay… So, when time stops for us, post-Simulation, it continues for others.

“Whatever your last played out Simulation was is the route you actually took, and what you’re doing right now is what you’re doing in real life. You’re sitting behind the counter with me right now, talking about something that is probably not this exact conversation, but the store is empty and Torby and Rcy are playing and we’re here just talking.

“Your friends are all living and moving and doing things, as is everyone else. Everyone’s phone calls are being taken, everyone’s stopping and going at each streetlight, and people are still dying every second. We just cannot see it, as we are stuck post-Simulation.”

“So how do we get out?” Kenta asked, completely following the concept Longguo just introduced to him. He _knew_ there had to be a flaw, and this was it. “And why is it dangerous?”

“I’ll teach you to exit post-Simulations in a moment. But it’s dangerous because if you die like this, you will die in reality as well. And not only that, in post-Simulation, there’s something that is rumored to exist called the Deafening. If you’re here too long, you will become extremely susceptible to the Deafening. Someone from my class, his name was Shihyun, supposedly passed this way. We know this because the medical examiner who reviewed their case found that they had a microchip implemented into his brain to prioritize recording of the moments before his death. When they watched it back, the examiner saw what Shihyun had seen, what they described as a black smoky cloud that consumed him. In reality, though, he passed suicidally. Filled his house with carbon dioxide to cease breathing.”

Kenta gulped nervously. “Have you encountered it? The Deafening, I mean.”

“No.” Longguo said flatly. “They consider me lucky for this. The most I’ve encountered is a deafening silence. But to be honest, I think it’s complete bullshit.”

“What, the Deafening?”

“Yeah. That friend I was talking about? Shihyun? He’d been known to have suicidal tendencies. I think that he imagined the Deafening’s existence while he was frozen.” Longguo stated, a deadpan expression on his face.. He got up from his seat and walked around the counter to move towards the door he’d previously entered the shop from. He looked at Kenta expectantly, and Kenta only looked at him, curious, before saying, “Come on, would you?”

Kenta quickly got up, wiping his jacket down as he pushed himself toward and through the door Longguo had just entered. He found himself faced with a dark, opened broom closet immediately in front of him and a step ladder at his left side. He closed the door to the front end carefully, noting that there was a small cat door for Torby and Rcy to enter through when they felt ready. Kenta smiled to himself before turning to look up the overused wooden ladder, seeing a faint light push itself through the crack of what he assumed was a slightly opened trap door. Longguo was already gone, so Kenta could only assume that he’d gone up the ladder and entered the room above.

He pushed himself up the ladder and through the door, and was quickly met with a blast of light from opened windows, blackened furniture with the occasional white piece to counter it, and an extremely relaxed Longguo nearly passed out on one of the couches. The floors were a dark brown hardwood, the ceiling and walls painted an off-white. It seemed to fit what little personality of Longguo that Kenta had gotten a look into.

Longguo turned to face Kenta from his slouched position, reaching his arm as far as possible to pat the seat available next to him on the couch. Kenta quickly forced himself to that part of the room, sitting upright as he watched Longguo straighten his figure and stretch out his arms next to him, letting a yawn out.

“Let me teach you how to unfreeze.” Longguo said.

“Before I get into it, you need to know that it’s difficult to do. You need to remember all the rules but not focus on it. This is the real danger of unfreezing: you can get stuck in a frame of time if you do it incorrectly. My first time unfreezing, I did this. I figured out my way out, but it’s a possibility. Basically, entering a frame of time means that some things resume, but others do not. Entering a frame of time can harm anyone you try to interact with, so if you notice this happen, please try to not interact with any bodies of any kind. If you do, I cannot even begin to describe the repercussions of your actions.”

“How do I even tell when I’m stuck in a frame of time?”

“If people are moving, but weather is not, is your best bet.” Longguo said, getting up from the couch to go to his window. He popped it open and pointed outdoors, continuing with, “Note the lack of wind and moving clouds. The only thing in the sky that’s moving is the sun.”

Kenta got up to look out the window too. He leaned out a bit so it was easier to see that the clouds were not moving like Longguo had said. He looked around, to the windows across the street and down at the cars on the road below. A moment later, he felt a little bit of a push then a tug on his jacket. He turned around quickly, a panicked inhale resting his breath. He didn’t exhale out of fear, but rather a bit of nervousness as he found himself face to face with Longguo, who was drilling a hole into Kenta’s eyes. Their faces were mere centimeters apart before Longguo muttered, “Don’t go doing stupid shit, Kenta,” and walked away from the window calmly. “I just told you if you died like this that you’d die in reality.”

Kenta exhaled carefully. “Yeah...Okay.”

He followed Longguo away from the window carefully, toward the kitchen part of his studio apartment. Longguo lifted himself to sit on the countertop, and closed his eyes carefully.

“Do as I say and do, Kenta,” Longguo said, “Sit, and close your eyes. Put your hands on your knees and lean your head back carefully.”

Kenta did as he said. “Start inhaling through your nose, and exhaling through your mouth. Once you feel your body start to weigh down, you’ll hit a point where you feel like you may fall asleep. If you feel the urge to yawn, don’t do it. Keep breathing like I told you to.”

And Kenta followed his instructions carefully. He kept his breathing even, and really did start to feel drowsy like Longguo mentioned.

“Now, start counting backwards from one-hundred. You may actually fall asleep for a moment, but when you wake up you’ll be back to reality.”

Kenta couldn’t help but wonder how Longguo figured this all out by himself, but he was grateful that he’d taken the time to help him out.

He began counting down, and as he met the number sixty, fatigue began to consume him carefully. _Maybe,_ Kenta thought, _being stuck isn’t so bad._ He met Longguo, who is quite honestly one of the better people he’s ever met simply based on first impressions. Kenta got the feeling he’d fit in well with his friend group.

The last number he remembered counting to was forty-three, and a moment later, he was awoken by the honk of a car and one of Longguo’s cats wrapping their body around his leg, a vibrating purr sending a shock through his body. He opened his eyes to see Longguo gone from the countertop, instead standing ahead of him in the living room. He watched Longguo peak out of the window, and he threw Kenta a smile and a thumbs up. Kenta got up to look out the window too, and sure enough, the clouds were moving, he could feel the heat of the sun on his skin and the chill of the wind blowing itself through the opened window.

Longguo closed it an instant later, realizing that it was mid-March, which meant that it was surely cold. Kenta buried his hands in his jacket pockets.

“So...How does it feel to be back?” Longguo smiled.

“Incredible,” Kenta responded, “It’s really… incredible. What time is it?”

“I think it’s around ten thirty. Did you want to try and call anyone?”

Longguo saying that reminded Kenta that he had to contact Sanggyun and Donghan to make sure they made it to their apartment safe, but he felt uncomfortable doing that in front of Longguo for a reason that he couldn’t figure out. Kenta knew that Longguo could merge well with Sanggyun and Donghan if he introduced them, but he didn’t want to risk it.

Risk _what,_ exactly? Kenta didn’t know. But he didn’t do anything anyway.

“No...I live alone,” Kenta said, not lying, but also not telling the truth.

Longguo nodded a bit, “Me too, but my best friends live next door. They mostly only care for me because of Torby and Rcy, though,” he finished, laughing.

Kenta laughed too, “Understandable, you seem cold compared to your cats,” and he watched as Longguo’s face dropped a bit. “Shit, I didn’t mean it like that, please don’t take it the wrong way--”

“No, no, I’m not offended, I’m more confused how you figured that out about me.” Longguo said, “A lot of people tell me I’m cold and distant. I thought I was getting past that trope with you.” He laughed a bit in disappointment.

Kenta bit his lip. “As soon as I saw your interior decorating I could tell. Plus, you just seemed secluded, I guess.”

Longguo stared at him for a second before nodding.

“By the way,” Longguo started, “I never asked how old you are.”

“You’re twenty-two, right?” Kenta asked. Longguo stared at him in what he assumed was a yes, “I’m twenty-three.”

“Oh… you’re older… I got the feeling you were younger,” Longguo admitted. Kenta smiled at him.

“A lot of people say I act younger than I actually am. And I won’t dismiss that, I do, for the most part. I don’t blame you for thinking I was younger than you.”

“It just means you’ve got a young face~!” Longguo exclaimed, and Kenta jumped a little in shock from how loud his voice had become, “You honestly look like you’re eighteen or nineteen. The fact that you’re twenty-three amazes me.”

Kenta smiled a bit at the indirect compliment, and Longguo was staring at him much more than he’d done before. It was almost as if Longguo was studying him, to see how he would react, to see the kinds of faces he made. It made Kenta feel like Longguo was borderline creepy, considering they’d only met just an hour or so prior, but he also felt flattered. He could tell that Longguo found him at least somewhat attractive. That felt good.

“I should--uh…” Kenta started, and Longguo snapped out of his daze. “I should go.”  
“Oh,” Longguo said, almost as if he was shocked by the statement, “I...Okay,” he responded.

“Do you want my phone number? Or something?” Kenta asked, and Longguo nodded so quickly that Kenta was surprised he didn’t get whiplash from it.

Longguo ran off to his bedside table and grabbed a pen and a notebook out of the drawer. Kenta could feel one of the cats wrap their body around his leg as Longguo did that. He came back with an empty page within seconds, and Kenta scribbled down his phone number. Longguo leaned down to grab the cat-culprit, who Kenta found was Rcy, from continuing to constrain his attempts to leave.

With Rcy in Longguo’s arms and Kenta finishing having written down his number, he quickly exited the apartment from the same trap door he traveled through before. He exited into the convenience store, and found that there was someone in the store headed towards the door. In fact, there were two someone’s--the one in front was just too tall for Kenta to realize there was a second.

As they passed, though, and the tall man put his hand on the door handle, Kenta turned and said, “Why are you trying to go in there?”

The shorter of the two turned to face Kenta completely, and the one with his hand gripping the door handle turned his head. He let go of it.

“Wait...Kenta?” The shorter said, and in a second, Kenta recognized his voice, and with the voice, he recognized his face. It was Taedong, Taehyun’s little half-brother. The tall guy was probably Hyunbin, then. Kenta felt almost embarrassed.

“Oh, oh my god, Taedong...Hyunbin?” Kenta said, “I’m sorry,” trying to redact what he just spat out on a whim, “Do you...Are you friends with Longguo?”

“Yeah, how do you know Longguo?” Hyunbin asked, and Kenta held his breath.

“We met like...an hour ago. We talked about some stuff, and he invited me up for a few minutes to meet his cats.”

Hyunbin smirked, holding back a laugh, “That’s who we’re going to see,” and Taedong just stared at Kenta.

“Have you talked to Taehyun lately?” Taedong asked, and Kenta wanted to shake his head but instead nodded.

“Yeah, last night. Before my last simulation.” Kenta’s phone dinged. He checked it quickly.

**_From: Unknown_ **

**_Hey, this is Longguo_ **

“Speak of the devil, that was him now. I have to go, but please...go ahead. Sorry for being judgemental without realizing, I’ll see you soon?” Kenta said quickly, and Taedong nodded.

“See ya, Kenta,” he said, as he and Hyunbin entered the door to Longguo’s apartment.

And once again, the convenience store was empty and quiet, except for the sounds of the creaking hardwood of Longguo’s apartment above and the honking of cars from outside.

It felt good to be back in the right timeline. It really did. But now Kenta couldn’t help but wonder.

That was a lot of information to take in, all that Longguo had told him was so new and odd. Kenta couldn’t help but wonder if a good amount of it was even true, but Longguo had no reason to lie to him.

He guessed he should just take it at face value. He should probably text Longguo, and contact Taehyun, too.

His phone dinged again.

**_From: Unknown_ **

**_My friends just said they saw you. Do you know them?_ **

Kenta unlocked his phone and responded.

**_To: Unknown_ **

**_I know Taedong, barely know Hyunbin. You knew Taedong is related to Taehyun, right?_ **

Kenta then went to call Taehyun.

The phone rang for three buzzes before Taehyun picked up with a, “Hey Kenta, what’s up?”

“Hey, can I come to your place? I need to talk to you.”

“Yeah, of course, is something wrong?” Taehyun responded, a bit of worry in his voice. Kenta shook his head as he responded.

“No, not really, but you’ll probably be interested to hear about this. Don’t think it’s good to talk over the phone with you about it.”

“Oh, okay,” Taehyun said, “When do you think you’ll be here?”

Kenta started out the door of Longguo’s convenience store and looked around to get a good idea of where he actually was in Seoul. He’d be at Taehyun’s apartment in about twenty minutes if he walked, five if he got a cab. He opted for the first option, and hit the crosswalk option on the corner of the street. “Give me twenty minutes. See you, Tae,” Kenta said, and Taehyun responded with a “see you soon,” before Kenta hung up.

Halfway as he was crossing the street, he realized he should probably contact Sanggyun or Donghan too. He reached the sidewalk on the other side and went to his contacts again, tapping on Sanggyun’s contact image and then hitting the call button. This time, it rang for two buzzes before someone who clearly _wasn’t_ Sanggyun picked up, voice deep and groggy. “Hello?”

“Donghan, give the phone to Sanggyun, please, I need to talk to him,” Kenta said.

“He’s asleep. I can take a message.”

Kenta rolled his eyes, speeding up his pace and turning a corner. “Just tell him to call me back, Donghan, please.”

“You got it. Bye, Kenta.”

And Donghan hung up the phone before Kenta could.

Well, so much for that.

He walked for another thirteen minutes before his ringtone went off. He’d be at Taehyun’s place in less than a couple minutes from then, but he slowed his pace to answer the call.

“Hello?” Kenta said, and he heard a heavy breathing on the other side.

“Don’t go in.” A voice said, right as he was about to hang up.

“What?” Kenta asked, “Why?”

“Don’t go in.”

Kenta didn’t respond.

“Don’t go in.”

And Kenta hung up.

What the _fuck._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [follow me on twitter? let's be friends and cry about jbj together](http://twitter.com/171018twt)  
>  feedback is always appreciated<3

**Author's Note:**

> AHHH okay so chapter two is already started so don’t fret. it is coming soon. hopefully within this next week because of me having work. aiming for 4k to 5k on that chapter!  
> follow me on twit and talk to me about this fic or just jbj in general @rohtaehs


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